John Lennon by Rani Solhaug

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Comment by Keith S. Chambers on November 24, 2013 at 4:01am

Don't worry about dating yourself — unless you mean you and yourself are dating, ha? no? sorry — anyway, I took private music lessons for many years, most of that time was spent with one teacher, who was a jazz musician and also, played Indian music — his instruments of choice for jazz were the [valve] trombone and the guitar, and for the Indian stuff, he play the sarod . . . his influence on me definitely put me in the 'what the heck is Keith listening to' category with my friends and contemporaries during high school. In college, I took music classes and a friend of mine — who I played in a rock band with — asked me what's the point of going to school to learn music if you already know how to play? What a strange question that was . . . it still stays with me . . . why wouldn't you want to know more about something, explore the exhaustive extent of something like music? Art? Heck, engineering, math, cooking, whatever you're into . .  oh, I think I'm getting off point; where were we? Oh, soon to be finished some day . . . school is always good for today and tomorrow, but best to plan for as the years start to fly by . . . btw, I saw Muddy Waters play at the Hollywood Bowl. Freaking mind blowing. I was [and still am] a big blues fanatic. Seeing Muddy play was epic. Even though Joe Turner and then [Big] Mama Thornton opened for Waters and Waters opened for BB King, Waters was pretty much the show [sorry BB]. And I saw Led Zeppelin too — am I dating myself now? Yes I am. And ramblin' too . . . yadda, yadda, yadda . . . later.

Comment by Rani Solhaug on November 23, 2013 at 2:57pm

Oh dont get me wrong I do enjoy the Beatles. I think I would have felt differently towards all their hype had I been a product of that era! My mom is a huge fan. In fact her biggest disappointment in life has been the fact that her parents would not let her go see the Beatles when they came to Minnesota for their one and only appearance. She said she and some friends sat on the fence surrounding the stadium and all they could hear was screaming. I consider myself pretty eclectic in my musical tastes for sure. I was the "weird" one in school that listened to Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Leadbelly (the original Led Zeppelin) and Son House etc etc and " the oldies". We (Minneapolis) had a radio station that I loved to listen to in the eighties and early nineties (I am now dating myself) that played anything and everything from the 1920's to the 1970's I LOVED it. Unfortunately they changed their format completely. But thank Odin their is the Internets! And no not a pro-fessional image maker. Luckily natural, inherited talent and loved all my art classes in school and college. I have an unfinished degree in arts and film. Soon to be finished, someday.

Comment by Keith S. Chambers on November 22, 2013 at 9:02pm

Oh, and I've always loved the Beatles music. I have an older siblings that turned me onto the Beatles [among other rock artists] during the sixties. It's music I grew up with. My mom introduced me to classical and jazz music, so I had a well rounded musical up-bringing. I listen to anything that captures my attention and imagination.

Comment by Keith S. Chambers on November 22, 2013 at 8:59pm

Under the gun? Are you a pro-fessional image maker? You're masterful, sublime designs tell me you have had training/experience in graphic arts.

For commercial assignments, I live under the deadline and love the fact that it is there. Otherwise, I would sit around and work on variations and alternate concepts, like . . . forever . . . fortunately for commercial work there are objectives to meet, demographics to connect with and clients who are watching the calendar and just as often, their watch — ideas, approval, execution; next project, thank you. Personally though, at this point in my life I would rather do what I want without the client, without objectives and without being the artist-salesman. Let it all spring-forth from the mind and let it go where it goes.

I watched the film Pollock last night and there's a scene where Life magazine is interviewing him [Jackson Pollack, portrayed by Ed Harris]. He is asked, . . . "when do you know when you're finished with a painting?"

With an unprintable [Life Magazine] quote, he answers, "When do you know when you're finished making love?"

An interesting correlation — Muddy Waters said, "I'll make love to you in five minutes time." Ha! Muddy was the man.

Comment by Rani Solhaug on November 22, 2013 at 7:30pm

Glad all FAB 4 arrived safely to your door. I would love to post all that I receive but my scanner has decided to quit indefinitely and with no notice. Its funny I have never really been a huge Beatles fan. My FAVORITE album of them together would have to be Rubber Soul. I think I like it because not a lot of time went into creating and producing it, they just did it and that was that. Artists of all mediums I think have a tendency to sometimes over think things. Some of my best stuff has been under the gun.  Well thats my 2cents... Post onward! Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da my friend!

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on November 20, 2013 at 5:06am

The words that come to mind (from 'Eleanor Rigby') are 'All the lonely people...'